4 free agents the Kansas City Chiefs were wise to stay away from

Now that the first wave of free agency is over, what are some of the signings that the Chiefs were wise to not make themselves?

Over the past few weeks, all 32 NFL teams have signed free agents to deals collectively worth billions of dollars, including several hundred million in guarantees. The Kansas City Chiefs were no exception as they signed star defensive tackle Chris Jones to a mammoth contract days before free agency opened as well as wide receiver Marquise Brown to a 1-year contract.

Although many franchises improved their squads by signing free agents, a lot of the contracts will not work out. That's the nature of the open market in the NFL and Kansas City has been no exception. Jawaan Taylor does not appear to be a home run of an acquisition and Anthony Hitchens wasn't the star linebacker they signed him to be.

What are some questionable contracts over the past several weeks that the Chiefs were fortunate not to sign themselves? Let's review four free-agent signings that the Chiefs were wise to avoid.

Note: This is limited to players that theoretically would have made sense for Kansas City target.

Sheldon Rankins, Defensive Tackle

The contract: 2 years, $23.4M ($8M guaranteed) with the Cincinnati Bengals

Even though Chris Jones re-signed with the Chiefs, defensive tackle is still a significant need for the team and they still need to add it before the season. That doesn't mean they should've signed the contract that the Bengals did with Sheldon Rankins.

After a nice five-year stint with the Saints, Rankins moved on to the Jets in 2021, where he enjoyed two up and down seasons. He then signed with the Texans last year, where he had a mediocre season.

Given the way his contract is structured, it's essentially a 1-year, $13.94M contract with a $9.5M team option in 2025. That's not a contract that Brett Veach should have signed. Although Rankins is an above-average pass rusher, his run defense has declined significantly over the past few seasons. He would not have been worth the money for K.C.

In addition, the Bengals let star defensive tackle D.J. Reader walk, who then signed a more team-friendly contract in Detroit. In my opinion, Reader is a much better player than Rankins as a pass-rusher and run defender. Though Reader did suffer a season-ending quadriceps injury in Week 15, I'm not sure if that we enough to justify letting him go. Even with the injury, the fact that Cincinnati let the better player leave just to sign a worse player to a more expensive contract is baffling to me.